Four Serious Illnesses Caused By Diabetes

Unregulated blood sugar and insulin are related to some of the most common illnesses in our society today.

Often, an existing disease can lead to insulin resistance and vice versa. This link makes it hard to point fingers; which disease causes which? The answer is important, of course, but more importantly is the common denominator: regulating blood sugar. If you want to prevent or reverse some of the most prevalent diseases, you’re going to need to start with your blood sugar.

1. Autoimmune Disease

Autoimmune diseases are very prevalent, but they’re not as understood as they should be. High blood sugar triggers conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, and ALS. The reason behind this is due to its tendency to increase inflammation and lead to gut damage. As a result, your insulin is less effective, which means your blood sugar is going to skyrocket.

Autoimmunity and high blood sugar are a vicious cycle that will leave you with terrible symptoms and poor health.

2. Hormone Imbalances

Hormones are your body’s messengers; they are the chemicals that prompt and direct bodily functions. Certain glands in your body send out specific hormones that must find their destination in order to deliver the intended message. These hormones are in charge of regulating stress, hunger, metabolic activity, mood, libido, and more. If you want to experience optimal health, you need to make sure your endocrine glands, hormones, and the hormone receptors on your cells are working well.

A lot of things can keep your hormones from working properly. These things include stress, toxins, poor diet, obesity, and diseases. Insulin resistance and high blood sugar also interfere with hormone production; it can mess up the production of thyroid hormone, cortisol, and estrogen. In the same way, hormone imbalances can also lead to high blood sugar. Similarly to autoimmunity, these effects go both ways.

3. Cancer

High blood sugar and cancer are two peas in a pod. Diabetes increases one’s risk of developing cancer, and it also reduces the effects of cancer treatments. Diabetes is also linked to a high risk of cancers in the liver, pancreas, endometrium, bladder, breast, colorectal, esophagus, and biliary tract. It can also lead to lymphoma. Cancer is undoubtedly an area of extensive research, but what we do know is this: If you consume a diet high in sugar, or if you have high blood sugar or insulin resistance, or if you have trouble with obesity, your cells are damaged.

Damaged cells can mean cancer or accelerated aging.

Cancer utilizes glucose to grow and take sugar away from healthy cells. Even if you don’t have high blood sugar, a diet high in sugar can also facilitate cancer progression.

4. Cardiovascular Disease

Over 80% of diabetics that are aged 65 or older die of heart disease or stroke.

That being said, there’s an obvious connection between high blood sugar and your heart’s well-being.

Both of these health aspects are dependent upon inflammation. High blood sugar damages your blood vessels, and in order to combat that damage, your body produces more cholesterol. When your liver distributes the cholesterol to repair and build new cells, your immune system also triggers the distribution of inflammatory cells. You can obviously have heart disease without the high blood sugar, but there will most likely be another cause of chronic inflammation. However, most people with high blood sugar will find themselves with cardiovascular disease in the future.

There are a lot of complicated links between these named illnesses and high blood sugar. That being said, we definitely need to pinpoint all of the aspects that give your body the best chance at repairing and healing itself from disease damage. These disease are not sole perpetrators. They work together and manifest together.

This site is for informational purposes only. The information has not been evaluated by the FDA and should not be used as personal health advice. The statements are not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, reverse, or cure any disease. The information is not intended to replace or delay prescription medication.